Improving School-to-Work Transitions: Antecedents of High-Quality Intern-Supervisor Exchanges

Abstract

Using a Canadian sample of 146 interns surveyed on three occasions (i.e., before, during, and after their internship experiences), we investigated university students’ skills and intentions as critical factors contributing to high-quality intern-supervisor exchanges. Specifically, we sought to better understand how to promote high-quality intern-supervisor relationships by looking at the influences of student-centered factors related to both educational (skills developed while in university) and organizational (intentions to develop relationship with supervisor) domains. To highlight the importance of these factors, we also examined whether their impacts on the quality of intern-supervisor exchanges ultimately translate into better internship outcomes, which we assessed by incorporating perceptions from both interns (i.e., internship satisfaction and general learning) and their supervisors (i.e., interns’ in-role performance and preparedness for work). Consistent with expectations, we found that both students’ skills developed while in university and students’ intentions to develop the relationships with their supervisors were positively related to the quality of intern-supervisor exchanges and, through that pathway, had positive indirect effects on internship satisfaction, general learning, in-role performance, and preparedness for work. Our findings indicate that students, universities, and employers all play a role in the development of high-quality intern-supervisor relationships, which are critical to student learning and performance.